Five Things To Do This Weekend in Memphis: June 9th-11th

Aida opens at Hattiloo

Hattiloo Theatre, 37 S. Cooper

June 9-July 2

Hold on tight to your scarab amulet, the journey from Ancient Egypt to modern-day theatre, much like a trip from the Earth to the Underworld on the River Styx, is about to get tumultuous. In the late 1800s, an Italian composer name Giuseppe Verdi was commissioned to write an opera for the opening of Khedivial Opera House in Cairo, Egypt. The production was all set to open when those pesky Prussians seized France early in 1871. The costumes for Aida were also held hostage in France. But the show must go on. By the end of 1871 things were more or less sorted out so that the production did indeed make it’s debut in Egypt. The production enjoyed worldwide success. In 1949 a complete concert version of the opera was given in New York City. In 1998 Elton John and Tim Rice turned the opera into a musical. I cannot imagine two better talents to set the musical stage for an enslaved Nubian princess who finds her heart entangled with an Egyptian soldier engaged to the Pharaoh's daughter. Director and choreographer Mark Allan Davis, through the entangled hearts of Krissi Bolden (Aida) and Kortland Whalum (Radames), creates a world fraught with forbidden love.

Feast on the Farm

Agricenter goes country farm fresh to benefit educational programs.

Agricenter International, 7777 Walnut Grove

Sat., June 10, 6-11 p.m.

Fresh, healthy food straight from the farm is about as charming as county living gets. Open the barn door and Feast on the Farm this weekend as the area’s finest chefs dish it out to the tunes of Wolf River Rednecks while you enjoy live and silent auctions benefiting Agricenter’s education programs.

Spend a Night at the Lorraine

Step back in time with an evening of food, music and fun where B.B. King, Nat King Cole, Isaac Hayes, and others were guests.

National Civil Rights Museum, 450 Mulberry

Sat., June 10, 7-11 p.m.

If those walls could talk, I would sit and listen for time on end about the legends who roomed at the Marquette Hotel when visiting Memphis. Marquette was the name of Lorraine Hotel when Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Jackie Robinson, Sarah Vaughan, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, and Otis Redding—just to name a few—were guests there in the 50s and 60s. Wilson Pickett’s The Midnight Hour and Eddie Floyd’s Knock on Wood were composed at the famous hotel. Now you can spend a night there too enjoying an evening of food, music, and fun reminiscent of the grand Lorraine’s heyday. In the immortal scat sounds of Sarah Vaughan, “shulie a bop” yourself to the grandest decades for Lorraine Hotel.

Bid on this beautiful plate by local physician and artist Dr. Malini Gupta from the online auction and fill it with food at the Foodtruck Festival.

Germantown Performing Arts Center, 1801 Exeter

Sun., June 11, 3-8 p.m.

Get great items at auction, fill your belly with noshings from the food trucks, and celebrate Memphis music with performances by Jason D. Williams, Memphis Jones, and Proud Mary benefiting GPAC artistic programming.

For a full list of what’s happening this weekend in and around Memphis, check out our calendar of events. Also, be sure to tag your favorite Instagram photos of Memphis while you are out and about with the #memphismagazine hashtag. I hope you have a great weekend.